Seamless knitted boot or shoe



(No Model.)

. M. V.BBIGER & A. EBERHART.

SEAMLBSS KNITTED BOOT 0R SHOE.

No. 367,333. Patented July 26, 1887.

fwawfcoz Q i www MMA UNITED I STATES MARTIN V. BEIGER AND ADOLPHUSEBERHART, F MISHAVVAKA PATENT Ormea.

INDIANA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 367,333, dated July 26,1887.

Application tiled February 2G, 18x11. Serial No. QQQIEIS. (No model.)

`tion of the same.

In this specification by the term boots7 vwe intend to be understood asreferring to that particular class offfoot-covering which is providedwith a long top or leg` to come up on the calf of the wearer and havingsufficient inherent stiffness to stand up and maintain its shape andplace on the wearers limb in contradistinction to that other class offoot-cover ing known as stockings, 7- which are limber and more or lesslimp.

Within the last few years boots fabricated from wool have comeintogeneral use as a substitute for leather boots, being warmer thanleather; but they are required to have the same qualities as tostiffness in the leg.

Our invention relates to thatclass of boots which are made fromaseamless fabric.

In boots made from wool the required stiffness can only be attained bythe use ofa quantity of stock in theleg sufficient when shrunk andfulled to acquire thereby the desired hard ness and stiffness. Oardedbats can be made of any required thickness, and felted to desiredstiffness; but felt has limited strength to resist frequent bending andsoon cracks and breaks in'places where wrinkles occur inuse, whereas aknit or woven fabric has tensile strength, due to the twisted fibers oryarn, irrespective of the hardness due to shrinking or fulling.Hereftofore no one, so far as we are aware, has known how to knit orweave suficient stock into the leg and foot to secure the requisiterigidity when fulled.

We are aware seamless boots have been made from vcarded-wool bats which,after having been formed in the semblance of boot, have been feltedand'finished on tree or last. We are aware, also, that a skeleton boothas been knitted or woven and covered with a layer of wool bats andafterward felted, whereby the requisite rigidity was secured by use ofthe carded bat and a slightly-increased cohesion attained by the knittedor woven fabric interiningled with the felt. 'Ve are also aware thatstockings and other garments have been knit of large size and thenreduced in size by fulling, but said stockings or garments remainedflexible and unable to support themselves like a boot; but we are notaware that any one has heretofore made a stift`-1egseamless boot whollyby knitting and subsequently fulling the same to the required size.

In all stockings or other garments made by knitting woolen yarn andsubsequently fulling the same, yarn of ordinary twist and size has beenemployed; but with such yarn it is impossible to knit in sufficientstock to render the leg as thick and stiff as is necessary for thepurposes of aboot. fe discovered, therefore, that to procure a boot withsufficient stock knitted into the legit is necessary to make aloosely-twisted yarn,and much larger than any heretofore in use, and todo so it was necessary to construct carding and spinning machines largerin size than those heretofore in use. The yarn we employ is verylooseand, say, three-sixteenths or one-quarter of au inch in diameter,equivalent to fifteen to twenty-flve times the size of woolen yarn spunfor any other purpose. A fabric knitted of said yarn and subjected tofulling will, by reason of its loose twist, firmly and solidly shrinktogether, stronger and harder than felt, either alone or in connectionwith a knit web.

We therefore do not clai1n,broadly,a seamless boot made from a fabricpartly kni-t and partly of felt, or wholly of felt, but confineourselves to the particularsset forth-to wit, a seamless'stitf-leg bootmade wholly by knitting, or substantially so. n

All boots made with carded bats are neces sarily more or less uneven inthickness and lumpy, and they are therefore not only uncomfortable tothe wearer, but, owing to their unequal exibility, they are not durable,but tend to wrinkle and break down near to the thicker portions. Itisalsoimpossible to make them with bats with accuracy as to size, so thatwhen felted they will not require trim- 'ming There is, therefore, veryconsiderable waste in trimming the tops and legs to sizeand shape. Thecuttings must be reworked or wasted. Our knitted boots are made ofuniform thickness and rigidity and so accurately IOO as to size andshape that no cutting or waste is involved.

Felted shoes have been made with soles and heels of felt integral withthe uppers, and felt boots have been made with leather soles andfoxings; but all fabric boots have heretofore been made without heels,and for this reason they are tiresome to the wearer, difficult to removefrom the foot, aud cannot be worn with an ordinary arctic or rubberovershoe, because the latter are always made with hollow heels and aresoon broken down and spoiled when worn with a heelless boot. This defectis obviated in our boots, to which we attach heels of some suitablematerial.

\Ve have thought it wise to make this comprehensive statement of the artin order as clearly as possible to define the object which is thesubject of our invention and to distinguish it from what is old in theart.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents the mammoth boot as itcomes from the loom; Fig. 2 represents the same when finished, the sizesbeing substantially comparative. Fig. 3 is a section showing the way ofapplying the heel.

In manufacturing our boots we spin the yarn exceedingly coarse-say fromteu to twentyfive times the size of any yarn heretofore sp un for anyother purpose-and thereby secure enough stock in the leg and foot toproduce the desired stiffness when fulled. From this exceedingly coarseyarn we knit a mammoth boot, A, say thirty (30) inches in circumferenceand forty (40) inches long, in one scamless piece, including leg, foot,and sole and very nearly in proper forni and proportion, so that we notonly get the requisite stock,but we make it uniform in thickness, andwithout 'waste by trimming.

our invention we do not desire to confine our- V selves as to the fabricof the boots. The heel is preferably attached wholly exterior to theboot; but we prefer to finish our boot with an interior hollow orindented heel, c, like the heel of an ordinary overshoe, designed toreceive the solid heel of a boot, but not so deep, aud we fill saidhollow heel with a suitable block or plate, d, which may be fastened bycement or by metallic or other fasteners, as set forth, and the externalheel proper, e, is attached by fastenings, which we prefer to extendthrough the material of the boot into the material of the inner plateor' heel. These fastenings may consist of stitches, rivets, Snc. By thismeans the material of the boot is firmly secured between the externaland internal parts of the heel and cannot be pulled loose.

It is well known that a kuit or woven fabric has more tensile strengththan a felted fabric containing the same quantity of material, and it istherefore apparent that our all-kuit boot will be necessarily strongerthan a boot having the same quantity of material wholly or partlyfelted.

Having described our invention, we claim as new 1. Theherein-describedmethod of' making knitted seamless boots, which consists, essentially,first, in spinning the yarn loosely twisted and very coarse, as setforth; second, in knitting the saine looselyin aboot of man1- niothproportions; third,inshrinkingand consolidating the same down to size byfulling; fourth, in finishing the same on tree and last, substantiallyas set forth.

2. A boot constructed according to the herein-described method-to wit,the foot and leg wholly formed by knitting from exceedingly-coarse yarnloosely twisted in mammoth proportions, said leg and foot being thenshrunk and consolidated by fullingand finally finished on tree and last,as set forth.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a seaur less stiftleg boot madewholly of wool, consolidated and stifened by fulling, as set forth, andprovided with an external heel-lift attached directly to said boot, asset forth.

et. A seamless boot of exceedingly-coarse yarn knitted in a mammoth sizeand reduced to desired size by fulling, provided with au internal heelor plate and an external heel-lift the fastenings whereof extend throughinto the internal heel or plate.

5. A new article of manufacture consisting of seamless boot constructedof woolen fabric, fullcd to size, and provided with'a heel of differentmaterial attached directly to the boot, substantially as set forth.

MARTIN V. BEIGER. ADOLPHUS EBERH ART. Witnesses:

Gno. V. Bvnxrr, E. V. BINGHAM.

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